The Dalai Lama is scheduled to leave today following a six-day visit comforting victims of Typhoon Morakot. The trip has provided a timely reminder of the increasing sway Beijing holds over many things, from the way the international media reports on certain subjects to Taiwanese politics and politicians.
One of the clearest examples of the former was the disproportionate amount of coverage given to a token number of pro-unification protesters who have followed the Nobel peace laureate.
Any neutral person watching or reading these reports from abroad may have received the impression that pro-China views are in the ascendancy in Taiwan, yet polls show that support for unification is less popular than even independence, at about 7 percent or 8 percent.
While this kind of trashy, low-cost reportage is understandable from certain sections of the domestic media, such protests would receive little or no attention in other countries. The activities of this rag-tag bunch received far more coverage than they deserved. One would expect the international press to do a better job.
While many international media groups reported on the protests, almost all neglected to mention the mandatory subtext to the story: Many of the demonstrations had been organized by a fugitive pro-unification gangster on the lam in China who once cooperated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government to eliminate dissidents.
Time magazine even went so far as to describe the protests as “Taiwan’s raucous democracy,” a statement that deserves extensive qualification.
Taiwan’s relationship with China is an important issue that attracts news editors around the globe because of the dramatic headlines it provides, but editors shouldn’t let a good story get in the way of the truth. Some facts about the background of these protesters would have provided readers with a balanced story.
We also look forward to the day that the international press stops framing the Taiwan issue in Beijing’s terms.
Another inconvenient truth revealed by the visit is just how much the KMT and its politicians are in the pocket of Beijing. Not one KMT official or politician had the courage to meet the Dalai Lama — an all-too clear demonstration of where the party’s loyalties lie.
These elected representatives pandered to Beijing’s whims by shunning a figure idolized by the majority of the people he represents.
How the KMT can continue to claim to represent Taiwan when its first reaction on domestic issues is to solicit China’s advice is beyond comprehension.
But it’s not all bad news. One thing we can be thankful for, even in the face of reams of pro-China propaganda and falsehoods in the pro-unification media, is that the majority of Taiwanese are still able to recognize the Dalai Lama for what he is: a peace-loving religious leader who has been demonized by a malevolent, authoritarian power.
Who knows? Perhaps this clarity of judgment may soon extend to the KMT itself.
There is much evidence that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is sending soldiers from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — and is learning lessons for a future war against Taiwan. Until now, the CCP has claimed that they have not sent PLA personnel to support Russian aggression. On 18 April, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelinskiy announced that the CCP is supplying war supplies such as gunpowder, artillery, and weapons subcomponents to Russia. When Zelinskiy announced on 9 April that the Ukrainian Army had captured two Chinese nationals fighting with Russians on the front line with details
Within Taiwan’s education system exists a long-standing and deep-rooted culture of falsification. In the past month, a large number of “ghost signatures” — signatures using the names of deceased people — appeared on recall petitions submitted by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) against Democratic Progressive Party legislators Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶). An investigation revealed a high degree of overlap between the deceased signatories and the KMT’s membership roster. It also showed that documents had been forged. However, that culture of cheating and fabrication did not just appear out of thin air — it is linked to the
On April 19, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) gave a public speech, his first in about 17 years. During the address at the Ketagalan Institute in Taipei, Chen’s words were vague and his tone was sour. He said that democracy should not be used as an echo chamber for a single politician, that people must be tolerant of other views, that the president should not act as a dictator and that the judiciary should not get involved in politics. He then went on to say that others with different opinions should not be criticized as “XX fellow travelers,” in reference to
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), joined by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), held a protest on Saturday on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei. They were essentially standing for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which is anxious about the mass recall campaign against KMT legislators. President William Lai (賴清德) said that if the opposition parties truly wanted to fight dictatorship, they should do so in Tiananmen Square — and at the very least, refrain from groveling to Chinese officials during their visits to China, alluding to meetings between KMT members and Chinese authorities. Now that China has been defined as a foreign hostile force,
RSS